Paxson Slams Howe's Committee Proposal

Fredericksburg mayoral candidate Matt Paxson said today that won't help because there's a pattern in City Hall of ignoring recommendations from other city committees.

Fred Howe, the Ward 3 councilman who is running for mayor in a three-way race, announced Thursday night that he would like to create a Finance Committee to help the city with financial decisions, and one of its first projects could be to review the courthouse costs.

Paxson issued a press release today that states the city has tried advisory committees before only to ignore the advice. Howe said the Finance Committee would be a chartered functioning panel that mirrors the City of Hampton's committee.

Paxson also criticized Howe for not doing enough to stop the $38 million courthouse project. Howe told supporters Thursday night that he thought City Council was violating open-meeting laws when it went into closed session to discuss portions of the Arcadis report that heavily influenced the majority's decision.

Paxson said he would have walked out of the closed meeting in protest if he had thought it was illegal.

"Mr. Howe's frustration with failing to sway a necessary fourth vote to stop this bloated courthouse project is understandable," said Paxson, "and I appreciate the fact he admitted City Council did not do it right, but we don't need another committee to offer City Council advice. We need leaders strong enough to keep this kind of boondoggle from happening in the first place."

The law states that if an elected leader believes a closed meeting was illegal he or she should not vote in favor of the resolution to certify the closed session. Howe protested going into closed session to discuss the report during that April worksession and a PDF of the meeting minutes is included with this article. But whether it's a lack of knowing the law or just a misstep, Howe and the two other council members who had earlier protested the closed meeting still voted in favor of the certificate approving the closed session, which basically gave their blessings that the closed session was in accordance with the law.

"Before we went into closed session to discuss that report I went on record stating that we were breaking FOIA based on my review of the report ... which was only a draft at the time," Howe said today. "I went on the record saying this information was not confidential. It should have been shared with the taxpayers."

Howe is trying to pretend Paxson's candidacy isn't real. He downplayed Paxson's comments and discounted his candidacy, saying he lacks experience and that a local political consultant is writing his press releases. He said it is unlikely that he will respond anymore to Paxson.

"I will work towards educating folks on the clear leadership and direct business experience difference that I will bring to the table, between Mary Katherine Greenlaw and myself in the coming couple months - before the May 1 election," Howe said in an email.

Paxson's full press release is below:

March 2, 2012 (Fredericksburg, VA)  Fredericksburg Patch reported today that mayoral candidate and current City Council member Fred Howe proposes to form a "finance committee" to advise City Council.  Patch included a recording of Howe saying he knows financial "experts" living in the city who are willing to provide additional outside consultation and "run economic analyses" on capital projects for council members.  Howe said the committee was needed to re-review the cost of the massive courthouse project approved by City Council. Mayoral candidate Matt Paxson, who unlike both of his opponents was not a member of City Council when the courthouse project was approved, has called for fewer City Council studies and consultants.  "This kind of committee advisory idea has been tried by City Council numerous times already," said Paxson, "and with repeated results that show City Council consistently ignores or fails to follow through on advisory committee recommendations."  

City Council assembled the Historic Preservation Task Force Committee to fulfill this same kind of roll in efforts to come up with a historic preservation plan for Fredericksburg.  

City Council then removed the committee's recommended oversight provision of the plan and has since failed to implement the majority of the remaining recommendations it did pass, such as the hiring of a preservation professional who meets the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation Professionals.

Howe said he thought City Council was "breaking FOIA law" during the courthouse process, but admitted to not being able to do anything about it.  

"Mr. Howe's frustration with failing to sway a necessary fourth vote to stop this bloated courthouse project is understandable," said Paxson, "and I appreciate the fact he admitted City Council did not do it right, but we don't need another committee to offer City Council advice. We need leaders strong enough to keep this kind of boondoggle from happening in the first place."  

Paxson said he would not have participated and would have walked out in protest of any closed-to-the-public meeting if he thought it was illegal.

During his campaign speech, Howe also referred to what City Council must, wants or needs to do over twenty times.  For example, with respect to city gateways, he said, "We need to address our gateways into the community."  Regarding the riverfront, he said, "We need to take the time and figure out what we're going to do with that area."  Matt Paxson is not going to merely remind citizens of what "we need," he is instead focused on advancing and implementing the specific solutions which will meet these needs.  

Paxson is the only candidate for Mayor with a very specific, actionable agenda that includes reclaiming the city's downtown riverfront and revitalizing the gateways into our community.

Matt Paxson's very specific, point-by-point plan and agenda for success can be downloaded at his website, paxsonformayor.com.